International

NPR's Ari Shapiro, who recently arrived in London, reports that all the wonders of modern technology have somehow not managed to reduce the time or the maddeningly high costs of transferring money across national borders.

An exceptionally rare flower that is virtually extinct has been stolen from London's Kew Gardens, in a crime experts say could be the work of an obsessed collector. aA British newspaper says that stealing the precious water lily "is like an old master theft."

The four Hezbollah members accused of killing former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 are being tried in absentia. Prosecutors in Leidschendam, Netherlands, said Thursday they have pieced together mobile phone data allegedly used by the plotters. Hezbollah has denied any role in the killing.

Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole has always used Twitter in creative ways. He recently asked a few dozen followers to tweet one line each, which he turned into a short story. Cole tells host Michel Martin more about the project.

Paul Lo spent part of his childhood in a refugee camp in Thailand. Now he has been appointed as a judge on the Merced County Superior Court in California. That reportedly makes him the first Hmong-American judge in U.S. history. Host Michel Martin speaks with Lo about his unusual path to the bench.

Unofficial results say more than 95 percent of voters approved the document. The results are seen as a boost to the military government and Army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is widely expected to seek Egypt's presidency. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted this week's vote.

Al-Qaida-linked militants from the group known as ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, were on the run, pushed out of many of their strongholds by an alliance of rebels opposed to al-Qaida. But now, ISIS has regained control of the only provincial capital held by the rebels.

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